Bluff Road overpass reopens two weeks ahead of schedule

UPDATE: The Bluff Road overpass is now reopened, according to transportation officials. The overpass reopened around 2:30 p.m. Tuesday after almost two months of construction.

The opening comes two weeks ahead of the expected completion date.

********

ASCENSION PARISH - Work is moving along on the Bluff Road overpass.

The work has shut down all traffic on the heavily-traveled bridge.

Larry Bowman lives in the Manchac Place Subdivision, right next to Bluff road.

"It's really been congested right now because of that bridge," he said. "I had to go another direction. I didn't realize when I went back toward the Baton Rouge side... It took me half an hour longer to get there."

"For me, it's like a temporary reprieve. Because when we try to leave our subdivision, in the past, cars really come flying over that overpass," Johnson said.

This construction is part of the larger project to widen I-10 from Highland road to Highway 73.

Workers are repairing and raising the overpass.

But the biggest questions folks have about this Bluff Road Bridge project concern whether it would be finished on time.

Transportation officials say the construction is right on schedule, and the date for completion is August 7. That's two days before school starts in East Baton Rouge Parish and one day before classes begin in Ascension.